49th Bailleau International Gliding Contest

International / Speed Race

You appreciate intermediate distance flights, and wish to improve your average cross country speed. You like to make use of the day’s best weather conditions, and improve your completion rate, giving you enough time to spend with your family and friends: the Speed Class is designed for you.

A genuine exclusivity in France, the Speed Class offers all pilots a chance to race in optimal conditions thanks to a key ingredient: tasks cut out to use the day's best flying window, minimizing outlandings from start to finish. This class is optimal for Standard, 15 meter, 18 meter and 20 meter twins.

This type of task allows experienced pilots to compete in a friendly but spirited atmosphere, while junior pilots can build up time flying shorter tasks than those assigned in the Long Flights Class.

On occasion, the Speed Class can be launched after the Amical, weather conditions permitting (as in 2016), providing the opportunity of increased flying distance.

International / Long Flights

In the Long Flights Class, the Bailleau contest spirit lives on with long distance tasks, maximized according to weather forecasts (2016 saw a 610 km task for exemple).

With maximum flyable distance in mind, the Long Flights Class will always be launched first, as soon as convection is established. While attempting to safeguard against pilot fatigue and a high number of outlandings, the distance achieved will mostly be far above that assigned in the Speed Class.

This class is optimal for >=18m gliders with a minimum handicap of 117.